How We Got the Bible The Bible In

How We Got the Bible The Bible In Your Hands

General Outline 9. Gnostic Gospels & Beyond 10. Textual Criticism 11. The Catholic Era & The Reformation 12. The Bible in Your Hand

Outline for Study • • • Why Talk About This? Translation Philosophies Other Specific Translation Issues Which One Is “Right”? Ben’s General Rules

Why Talk About This? • An Almost Uniquely English Problem

The Version Wars • It was believed that changed Bibles would lead to a changed church. • It was thought that this could be prevented. Conclusions: • We don’t want to be the people that tell others to use our “special Bible. ” • We need to teach people about the Bible’s they actually have.

Translation Philosophies WORD FOR WORD • FORMAL CORRESPONDENCE: Translators try to retain as much of the originating text’s sentence structure and word order as possible. THOUGHT FOR THOUGHT • DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCE: Translators put the ideas of the originating text into the equivalent images and language of the receiving culture.

Translation Philosophies

Example: 1 Corinthians 11: 20 • INTERLINEAR: Coming togetherefore you to the it not it is of the Lord a supper to eat.

Example: 1 Corinthians 11: 20 • INTERLINEAR: Coming togetherefore you to the it not it is of the Lord a supper to eat. FORMAL CORRESPONDENCE • KJV: When ye come togetherefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. • NASB ‘ 95: Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper,

Example: 1 Corinthians 11: 20 • INTERLINEAR: Coming togetherefore you to the it not it is of the Lord a supper to eat. DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCE • NIV ‘ 84: When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, • ESV: When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.

Example: 1 Corinthians 11: 20 • INTERLINEAR: Coming togetherefore you to the it not it is of the Lord a supper to eat. LOOSE DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCE • NLT: When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord's Supper. • GOD’S WORD: When you gather in the same place, you can’t possibly be eating the Lord's Supper.

Example: 1 Corinthians 11: 20 • INTERLINEAR: Coming togetherefore you to the it not it is of the Lord a supper to eat. PARAPHRASE • MESSAGE: You come together, and instead of eating the Lord’s Supper, you bring in a lot of food from the outside and make pigs of yourselves.

Example: Matthew 26: 27 • • • INTERLINEAR: Drink ye of it all. KJV: Drink ye all of it. ESV: Drink of it, all of you. NIV ‘ 84: Drink from it, all of you. MESSAGE: Drink this, all of you.

Example: Romans 10: 10 • INTERLINEAR: For with heart [one] believes unto righteousness, and with mouth [one] confesses unto salvation. FORMAL CORRESPONDENCE • KJV: For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Example: Romans 10: 10 DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCE • NASB ’ 95: for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. • NIV ’ 84: For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. • ESV: For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Example: Romans 10: 10 LOOSE DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCE • NLT: For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. • GOD’S WORD: By believing you receive God's approval, and by declaring your faith you are saved.

Example: Romans 10: 10 PARAPHRASE • MESSAGE: With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right between him and me!”

Other Specific Translation Issues Gender Neutrality • Good: 1 Timothy 5: 8 • Neutral: Mark 16: 16; Matthew 4: 4 • Bad: Gender of God? (Hebrews 12: 7) • (NIV ‘ 84) “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ” • (NIr. V) “Put up with hard times. God uses them to train you. He is treating you as children. What children are not trained by their parents? ”

Other Specific Translation Issues Textual Criticism • Erasmus (16 C): 6 mss • Mill / Textus Receptus (17 C): 82 mss • Westcott-Hort (19 C): Eclectic, Primarily 2 mss • Modern Text (20 C): 5, 000+ mss & a lot more Important Questions • How many manuscripts (etc. ) available? • How are manuscripts evaluated?

Which One Is “Right”? The Version you want to use depends on your purpose. • Word-For-Word: Good for word studies (as long as you trust the words). • Thought-For-Thought: Good for extended readings (as long as you trust the thoughts). • Paraphrase: Good for a paraphrase (as long as you trust the paraphrase).

Ben’s General Rules • Read criticisms of your Bible. • Avoid single author translations for primary Bible usage. • Avoid translations with a stated agenda. • Be cautious in study from though-forthought translations. • Paraphrase Bibles should not be your primary Bible. • Parallel Bibles: Beware of “picking” phrases.