There are a great many translations of Bibles out there some good, some not so good. It is worth having a number of translations when you are studying the Bible, and many are available for free online. I regularly use the English Standard Version (ESV) the New International Version(NIV) the King James Version (KJV) the New Living Translation (NLT) and occasionally The Message wen I am studying. Biblegateway has more than 12 different English translations available and you can use it to easily compare texts.
As I was studying today for Sunday's sermon I came across an unhelpful translation in the NLT which is a good and readable version, but is not a literal translation and it loses some of the original intended meaning. The ESV is a literal translation of the Greek as much as is possible with the variances of the English language. Compare the NLT below to the ESV:
2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
But the key issue is not just that Jesus became a "sin offering" but that he became totally and completely sin for us – hence the Fathers forsaking him on the cross – that is how entirely Jesus takes our sin from us.
Again the NLT translates as "be made right with God" where the original is much more emphatic – we don't just become right, we become THE righteousness of God. And it is that in God's eyes we become entirely, completely, gloriously right with him in every way.. For those who want to delve a little deeper it's called imputed righteousness.
The point is pick your translations carefully. The NLT and The Message are good reading bibles but should never be used for study.
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