5 The Three Kings
No doubt most of us have heard the Christmas Carol We three kings of Orient are; but in fact, the three kings are never referred to as Kings in the Bible. Additionally, they are not referred to as a group of three. The only reference to the number 3 is the number of gifts they carried. [Matthew 2:7-11]
5 三列王
毫无疑问，大家大部分人都听过耶诞颂歌东方三贤士；但事实上这三位王在圣经中从未被提过是国王。另外，他们也没被提及是三人成组的，唯一提及的关于他们的数字3是他们携带的礼物。[马太福音 2:7-11]
4 Mary Magdalenes Career
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. In fact, she is barely mentioned at all. Aside from her presence at the ressurection, the only other thing that the Bible does say is that she was possessed1 by seven demons2. [Luke 8:2]
4 抹大拉的玛利亚的职业
圣经中没指出抹大拉的玛利亚是一名妓女，事实上她极少被提及，除去在耶稣复活时有提到过她。圣经中唯一提及她的另一处则是她被七个污鬼附身。[路加福音 8:2]
3 The Prodigal3 Son
Contrary to popular belief, Prodigal means characterized by a profuse4 or wasteful5 expenditure - it is not a reference to leaving or returning. [Luke 15:11-32]
3 浪子回头
与现在大伙常见理解的相反，浪在圣经中的意思是指挥霍浪费掉很多财产--它指的不是离乡后的回归。[路加福音 15:11-32]
2 Emperor Constantine and the Bible
The Emperor Constantine did not define the canon of the New Testament6 at the first Council of Nicaea in 325AD - in fact, the Council did not even make mention of the Biblical canon. It was already defined by common use by the early 2nd century in the form in which it is still found in Catholic Bibles. Another little known fact is the Emperor Constantine had no voting power at the council - he was there merely as an observer. [Canons of the Council of Nicaea]
2 康斯坦丁大帝与圣经
公元325年首次普世大会在尼西亚召开时，康斯坦丁大帝并没规定出新教的教规--事实上，大会甚至没提及圣经的教规。事实上教规使用了二世纪早期常见的格式，而这一格式在如今天主教圣经中仍常见存在。另一个不为人知的事实是，康斯坦丁大帝在大会上其实没投票权--由于他只不过旁观者。
1 Changing Text
Some people believe that over the centuries, the Bible text has been altered to suit the ideologies7 of the editors. In fact, there are only a very small number of textual alterations8 that modern philologists9 and critics consider intentional10 changes; most are simply errors in spelling or copying. Bart D. Ehrman says:
It would be a mistake. . .to assume that the only changes being made were by copyists with a personal stake in the wording of the text. In fact, most of the changes found in our early Christian11 manuscripts have nothing to do with theology or ideology12. Far and and away the [sic] most changes are the result of mistakes, pure and simpleslips of the pen, accidental omissions13, inadvertent additions, misspelled words, blunders of one sort or another.
Aside from the removal of a number of books in the 16th Century, the Bible is essentially14 the same now as it was in the 2nd century.
1 文本的变迁
有人觉得在经过几个世纪的变迁，圣经的文本内容已经遭到修改，为了符合编者的意识形态。事实上，现代语言学家和评论家觉得只有极少一部分文本内容被有意修改；其他大多数的错误是因为拼写或复写时出现了错误。巴特D叶尔曼说：
圣经中所有被改动的地方都是由于抄写者个人对文本的理解产生出入而修改的，这种想法是错误的。事实上，从大家早期的基督教原稿中发现大部分错误与理论或意识形态没什么关系。可以一定的是大部分都是单纯的错误--一时的笔误，无意的增减，单词拼错与各类型似的错误。
除去在16世纪时被刻意移除过几章以外，圣经从本质上来看与二世纪时是一样的。
