"We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly." Many Latter-day Saints know this line by heart. It raises a fair question for every Christian: how do we know the Bible we hold is the Bible God gave?
Short answer: Catholics agree that no translation is perfect and that ancient copies contain variants; our own Bible footnotes them openly. But the evidence shows the Bible was handed on faithfully, not stripped of "plain and precious things." Christ promised His words would not pass away, and He gave His Church to guard and interpret them.
Key verses on the Bible's preservation
- "the word of our God stands forever." (Isaiah 40:8)
- "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." (Matthew 24:35)
- "but the word of the Lord remains forever." (1 Peter 1:25)
- "from infancy you have known [the] sacred scriptures" (2 Timothy 3:15)
- "the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth." (1 Timothy 3:15)
Scripture quotations are from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
What Catholics Actually Teach
First, the Latter-day Saint view in its own words. The eighth Article of Faith reads: "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God" (Articles of Faith 1:8). The Church teaches that "Latter-day Saints revere the Bible," but adds: "Neither is the Bible, as it is currently available, without error." Quoting Joseph Smith, "I believe the Bible as it read when it came from the pen of the original writers," it explains: "As the Bible was compiled, organized, translated, and transcribed, errors were introduced into the text" ("Bible," Topics and Questions). The Book of Mormon says "many plain and precious things" were "taken away from the book" (1 Nephi 13:28).
The Catholic Church teaches that "God is the author of Sacred Scripture" (CCC 105) and that "the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures" (CCC 107). The Church also "sees to it that suitable and correct translations are made into different languages, especially from the original texts of the sacred books" (Dei Verbum 22).
What Catholics do not teach:
- That any translation is perfect. That is why the Church sends translators back to the original languages.
- That copies have no variants. The NABRE flags them in its notes.
- That the Bible stands alone. Scripture comes to us with Sacred Tradition and the Church (2 Thessalonians 2:15).
The Biblical Case
1. God promises to preserve His word
"The grass withers, the flower wilts, but the word of our God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8). Jesus says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (Matthew 24:35). St. Peter quotes Isaiah and adds: "This is the word that has been proclaimed to you" (1 Peter 1:25). God did not promise to preserve His word only until a later corruption.
2. Jesus and the apostles trusted copies and translations
Jesus "was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah," a copy made centuries after Isaiah, and said, "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:17–21). St. Timothy knew the "sacred scriptures" from infancy, again through copies, and St. Paul calls "All scripture" "inspired by God" (2 Timothy 3:15–16).
The New Testament writers often quote the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint. The NABRE notes that Hebrews quotes one text "according to the Septuagint translation, which is quite different in meaning from that of the Hebrew" (note on Hebrews 1:5–14). The Church "from the very beginning accepted as her own" this translation (Dei Verbum 22). If copies and translations could not carry God's word, the apostles could not have preached from them.
3. Variants are real, known, and visible
Catholics do not hide textual questions. The NABRE says the story of the woman caught in adultery is "missing from all early Greek manuscripts," yet "The Catholic Church accepts this passage as canonical scripture" (note on John 7:53–8:11). We know about such variants because we have so many manuscripts to compare.
The Dead Sea Scrolls let us test about a thousand years of copying. The Great Isaiah Scroll from Qumran is dated by scholars to roughly the second century BC, and the Israel Museum, which keeps it, describes it as generally in agreement with the traditional Masoretic text preserved in medieval manuscripts, while noting many variant readings, spellings, scribal errors and corrections (Israel Museum). Copyists made mistakes, and scholars can see them by comparing copies. That is very different from losing the book.
4. Misunderstanding needs a teacher, not a new text
The Ethiopian official had the right text of Isaiah. What he lacked was an interpreter: "How can I, unless someone instructs me?" Then "beginning with this scripture passage, he proclaimed Jesus to him" (Acts 8:31, 35). St. Peter warns that "there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation" (2 Peter 1:20). Christians disagree mostly because they read the same words differently. Christ's remedy is "the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth" (1 Timothy 3:15). (See Is the Church the Pillar and Foundation of Truth?)
Objections Answered
(a) "1 Nephi 13 says plain and precious things were taken away."
At its strongest: The Book of Mormon teaches that after the gospel went out through the apostles, "they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious," so that "an exceedingly great many do stumble" (1 Nephi 13:26, 29). This, Latter-day Saints say, explains why Christians are divided.
Answer: Such a removal should leave traces, but the surviving manuscripts show variants, not a gutted Bible. For the Old Testament we can test it directly: the Isaiah scroll was copied and kept by Jews before Christ, not by any church, and it still agrees in substance with our Isaiah. In practice, even the Latter-day Saint Church does not replace the received text. A 1992 First Presidency letter reaffirmed the King James Version as "the English language Bible used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Church News); the Joseph Smith Translation appears only as selected excerpts and study aids. And the claim has a timing problem. Our Lord promised that the Spirit would "remind you of all that [I] told you" (John 14:26), and St. Jude speaks of "the faith that was once for all handed down to the holy ones" (Jude 3). About a century after the apostles, St. Irenaeus already wrote that they "handed down to us in the Scriptures" the Gospel, "to be the ground and pillar of our faith" (see below). The claim of removal names no manuscript, no date and no culprit that history can check.
(b) "Conflicting translations prove the text is corrupt."
At its strongest: The Latter-day Saint Church says errors "become evident when you consider the many and often conflicting translations of the Bible that exist today."
Answer: Most differences between translations are choices of wording, and where manuscripts differ, good translations say so in their notes. Every translation can be checked against the Hebrew and Greek. Early Christians did exactly this: Origen set the Hebrew side by side with several Greek translations in his Hexapla. Different renderings call for careful study, not a new revelation.
(c) "The Bible mentions books that are missing."
At its strongest: The Latter-day Saint Church notes that "The Bible itself speaks of other authoritative books of scripture," such as the acts of Nathan and the visions of Iddo (2 Chronicles 9:29), and "even missing epistles of Paul" (1 Corinthians 5:9; see Colossians 4:16).
Answer: Catholics agree some writings mentioned in the Bible are lost. But a book being cited is not a book being cut out. The Chronicler names his sources; he never says they were Scripture that someone removed. Not every inspired writer's every letter was meant for the canon. "It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings are to be included in the list of the sacred books" (CCC 120). (See Who Decided Which Books Are in the Bible?)
The Early Church Agrees
- St. Irenaeus (Against Heresies III.1.1, c. AD 180): "We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us," which they "handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith." (newadvent.org)
- St. Irenaeus again (late 100s, preserved by Eusebius, Church History V.20.2) ended one book with a charge to copyists: "I adjure thee who mayest copy this book, by our Lord Jesus Christ ... to compare what thou shalt write, and correct it carefully by this manuscript." Eusebius praised this "painstaking carefulness." (ccel.org)
- Origen (200s), says Eusebius, "learned the Hebrew language, and procured as his own the original Hebrew Scriptures," then set the translations "opposite each other, with the Hebrew text itself" (Church History VI.16). (newadvent.org)
- St. Augustine (Letter 82 3, c. AD 405) held the canonical books "completely free from error," and wrote: "if in these writings I am perplexed by anything which appears to me opposed to truth, I do not hesitate to suppose that either the manuscript is faulty, or the translator has not caught the meaning of what was said, or I myself have failed to understand it." (newadvent.org)
St. Augustine knew copies and translations could slip. He corrected the copies; he did not conclude the Bible had been gutted. The early Church guarded the very text that Latter-day Saints say was lost.
Conclusion
Latter-day Saints are right to love the Bible and to care about accurate translation. Catholics share both, and the Church has spent centuries copying, comparing, and translating Scripture with great care.
But the Bible we read is not a damaged remnant waiting for repair. It is the word that "remains forever," handed on by the Church Christ founded. We invite Latter-day Saint readers to open any approved translation, check its notes, and see how much the manuscripts agree.
Come home. The Bible was never gutted or lost; the Catholic Church copied, compared, and translated it with care through every century, and she still hands it on whole today. Christ promised, "upon this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18), and His Church never fell away or disappeared. It is the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of St. Peter and the bishops in communion with him. "It is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained" (CCC 816). We invite you to come and see the Church Christ founded, and to enter her.
Your next step: Come to Mass this Sunday at your local Catholic church. You can find one near you at MassTimes.org. Everyone is welcome; if you're not yet Catholic, pray with us but don't receive Communion yet. When you're ready to become Catholic, call the parish office and ask about OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. They will walk you through every step. Read our guide: How Do I Become Catholic? Not ready yet? Get our free pocket guide below and keep learning.
FAQ
Does the Catholic Church say the Bible has no errors? The inspired books teach "without error" the truth God wished to confide for our salvation (CCC 107). Copyists and translators can make slips, which careful study corrects.
Which translation should I read? Any Church-approved translation. This site quotes the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE).
Do Catholics accept the Joseph Smith Translation? No. The Catholic Church does not regard it as Scripture, and the Latter-day Saint Church itself still uses the King James Version as its English Bible.
Sources
Scripture (NABRE, bible.usccb.org): 2 Chronicles 9:29; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 16:18; Matthew 24:35; Luke 4:17–21; John 7:53–8:11 (NABRE note); John 14:26; Acts 8:31, 35; 1 Corinthians 5:9; Colossians 4:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:15; 1 Timothy 3:15; 2 Timothy 3:15–16; Hebrews 1:5–14 (NABRE note); 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:20; Jude 3.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (vatican.va): 105; 107; 120; 816.
Church documents (vatican.va): Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum 22.
Church Fathers (newadvent.org; ccel.org): St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies III.1.1; Eusebius, Church History V.20 (quoting St. Irenaeus) and VI.16; St. Augustine, Letter 82.
Other sources: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, "The Great Isaiah Scroll"; First Presidency letter on the King James Version, reported in Church News, June 20, 1992.
Latter-day Saint sources (churchofjesuschrist.org): Articles of Faith 1:8; "Bible," Topics and Questions; 1 Nephi 13:26–29.