Sentence:  For the most part , however , the new version <WSD>is</WSD> contemporary and , as such , should be the means for many to attain a clearer comprehension of the meaning of those words recorded so many hundreds of years ago by the first followers of Christ . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)