WHY ARE THERE SO MANY DIFFERENT
TRANSLATIONS OF THE
BIBLE?
If
I just became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and I asked one of my new
Christian friends what I should do next, they would probably tell me to go get
a Bible and start reading it.
Years ago that wasn’t to daunting a task because there weren’t that many
translations to choose from.
Today, however, purchasing a Bible is difficult because there are a
plethora of Bibles to choose from.
Consider the following options for the first-time Bible shopper:
The
King James Version
The
American Standard Version
The
Revised Standard Version
The
New International Version
The
New American Standard Version
The
New King James Version
The
New Revised Standard Version
The
Good News Bible (also knows as Today’s English Version)
God’s
Word
Contemporary
English Version
The
Jerusalem Bible
The
New Century Version (also known as The Answer)
Phillips
Modern English
The
Living Bible
The
Message
The
New Living Translation
The
English Standard Version
Scanning
through this list is confusing even to the long-time believer let alone the new
Christian. Which Bible should I
choose, and what’s the difference between them, are questions that people ask
all the time.
Making
things even more complicated is the number of study Bibles that are available
in the different translations.
Study Bibles contain graphs, charts, articles, and many helpful
footnotes that explain what some of the more difficult passages mean. Some study Bibles offer footnotes that
are geared for explaining the different theological points of view regarding
various passages, while others are more focused on offering the reader ways in
which the passage can be applied in every day life.
For
example, if I like the NIV (New International Version) I can buy the NIV Study
Bible. This study Bible offers
great footnotes that explain different theological points of view. This is my personal favorite! I could also get the NIV in the Life Application Study
Bible. This study Bible is strong
on offering points for application of Scripture in every day scenarios. I can also get the Serendipity NIV
Bible which is geared for small group discussions. It’s a great resource for the small group leader in that it
has questions that lend themselves to great discussions, and saves a lot of
time in preparation.
Now
that I’ve laid out the Biblical landscape, let me see if I can sort through the
morass of confusion and bring some clarity to the situation offering the Bible
shopper some guidance. There are
several approaches to Bible translation that everyone should be aware of. The first is called the “formal
equivalent.” This simply means
that the translators are trying to interpret the original language as literally
as possible (word-for-word) into the receptor language, which in our case is
English. The literal
approach to translation is as close to a word-for-word translation as
possible. The idea being to
capture what the original authors were saying as literally as possible.
There
are some difficulties with this approach.
When translating from one language to another there will often times be
Greek words that don’t have an English equivalent. What does the translator do then? When trying to translate word-for-word it will often times
read stiffly, lacking the flow that everyday conversational language has. It will be accurate, but it doesn’t
lend itself to a fluid read.
Another
approach to translation is the “dynamic equivalent.” This approach to translation is more concerned about
capturing the idea that the original author was trying to convey, and
presenting it in the receptor language in a way that is fluid and
conservational in nature. This
approach to translation yields Bibles that are easier to read and avoids
straining the reader with choppy sentences.
The
third, approach to translation is the paraphrase, which technically speaking
isn’t really a translation. The
paraphrase such as The Living Bible is not written by someone with linguistic
capabilities. A paraphrase takes
an English version of the Bible and makes it very smooth and easily readable.
What
should the Bible shopper do with all this information? Which approach is the best? The fact of the matter is that they are
all good and necessary. I advise
people to have a “formal equivalent” translation and a “dynamic equivalent”
translation. For example, I like
the New American Standard Bible (NASB) as my formal equivalent Bible because it
is very literal, however, it doesn’t read as smoothly as my “dynamic
equivalent” New International Bible (NIV), which reads very much like
conversational English.
Having
one of each gives the reader a different perspective on each passage. I like to teach out of the NIV because
of it’s easy reading, but I find myself gravitating to the more literal (NASB)
when studying. Both are good and
necessary. A good combination is
the NIV for it’s readability, and the NASB for it’s literacy from Greek to
English. They compliment each
other very well and give the serious Bible student plenty of insights into what
the original authors of Scripture intended to say.
In
my next pastor’s thoughts I’ll take the list of Bibles mentioned above and
categorize them into the different camps, and offer my thoughts on two of the
newer translations; The Living Bible and the English Standard Version.
Happy
Reading,
Pastor
Bruce Guckelberg, PhD