Every week in my women’s bible study there are at least 3 different translations being used.  Most of the time one of us reads a passage and then we all simply discuss.  There are times, however, that we struggle with the passage and then I suggest we read it in another translation.  When we do this, oftentimes there is the question as to the validity of using different translations.  So today, the focus will be on why there are so many choices and which one should be used.

Anytime you are translating something from one language to another, whether it be spoken or written, there is never a one-to-one translation.  Each language has its own rules and nuances that can never be fully translated.  So it is with translating the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek manuscripts.

History
The Old Testament was written largely in Hebrew, with a few smatterings of Aramaic (most of Daniel was written in Aramaic).  As Hebrew people started moving across the Near Eastern world and acclimated themselves to other cultures, they would translate their Scriptures into the new language – or at least sections of their Scriptures.  The largest undertaking would be the translation into Greek between 300-200 BC also called the Septuagint, or the LXX.

All (that I know of) the New Testament manuscripts were written in Greek.  The next major undertaking was the translation into Latin, called the Vulgate, by Jerome in the late 4th century AD.  Jerome used both Hebrew and Greek manuscripts for translation.  For hundreds of years afterward, at least in the Roman Catholic Church, the Vulgate was the only authorized version.

The first known translation of the Bible into English was by John Wycliff in the 14th century (c1380’s).  Because the only authorized version available was the Vulgate, that is what Wycliff used.  The problem with this should be obvious: Wycliff translated a translation of the original texts – meaning that the true nuances and rules of the original language are now once removed.  The King James version followed suit and used the Vulgate as its base.  (There were several translations into English between Wycliff and King James but those translations are not used today.)  If you would like more history then check out this website: Greatsite.

Our Current Situation
As I walk through the Bible section at my local Family Christian Store, I feel completely inundated by the selection of Bibles.  There are almost too many to choose from.  Here are some guidelines to help you choose.

Word-for-Word Translations
Some translations committees go the route of thinking that only a word-for-word translation of the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts is the way to go.  While I applaud this idea, the English is often very awkward and is not easy to read.  This type of translation is also called a Literal Translation.  Versions that fall into this category: King James, New King James, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), Amplified Bible (AMP), Revised Standard Version (RSV).

Meaning-for-Meaning Translations
This is also known as a Dynamic Equivalence methodology.  This method attempts to take the true meaning of a text and translate it in a way that it produces a more readable text for us while conveying the true meaning behind the text.  There are degrees to which this can be done.  Versions in this category: New International Version (NIV), Today’s New International Version (TNIV), New American Bible (NAB), New Jerusalem Bible (NJB), New Century Version (NCV).

Paraphrase
This last, broad category, is the taking the original text and putting it into your own words, or paraphrasing it.  This method probably produces the easiest text to read, but meaning and accuracy of original intent get lost.  Versions using this method include: The Message, New Living Translation (NLT), Contemporary English Version (CEV), Living bible.

The ultimate question you should ask is: which one should I use?  That is a question that I cannot answer for you, but I can offer some thoughts.  The most important thing is that YOU ULTIMATELY NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS WRITTEN DOWN.  If you can’t understand the language, style or thoughts, then you’ll never have the opportunity to be transformed because you’ll be struggling with what the text says.  Keeping that in mind, I would probably start with a New International Version as it has the most readability for its accuracy level.  I would then probably progress to something like the English Standard Version, which is more word-for-word (i.e. more accurate) and read them side-by-side.  Then if you find that you still need a little bit of help, I would reach for a New Living Translation.  Working with three bibles open will provide for you a broad range of readability, accuracy and conveyance of meaning that you would never get from using one translation exclusively.  I actually use the ESV as my standard version, followed by the NIV and TNIV, the RSV and on rare occasions I’ll pick up a King James.  I’ve toyed with getting the new NLT Study Bible, but haven’t justified owning another bible (I actually use 8 different study bibles, each with its own purpose.  I’ll talk more about that next time.

Questions?  If you ever have any questions about this blog, my theology, my data or general thoughts, please feel free to comment.  I will answer all questions (if I can) on the blog.

Before we get started, I need to clear one thing up.  Lest you think that “interpretation” is best left to the professionals, i.e. our pastors and theologians, you would be wrong.  Here’s why: EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU READ THE BIBLE, YOU MAKE ASSUMPTIONS AS TO WHAT THE TEXT IS SAYING – WHICH MEANS THAT YOU ALREADY MAKE INTERPRETATIONS OF THE BIBLE.  Everyone does this.  So here will be some tools that should help you make those interpretive decisions better.

First up is taking a look at the genre. The bible is filled with many different types of writings.  We all know this and recognize this.  The trouble is that some people (many in fact) don’t know what to do with all the different types of writing.  It is important for us to get this right because our job is not to read the Bible passively: it is to be a central part of our lives, meaning that we are to read Scripture with transformation in mind.  If we get the interpretation wrong then we will most definitely get the application wrong.

1. Narrative.  A Narrative tells us the facts and even sometimes the motives for actions taken.  Narrative is not a flat out acceptance of a particular behavior.  Just because it is written that Solomon had hundreds of wives, does not mean that if we are to be wise like Solomon we also need hundreds of wives.  Narrative simply tells us what happened.  Narratives also illustrate for  us the fallibility of human nature – just because there is a story in the bible does not mean that it endorses that particular behavior – quite the contrary.  In fact, I would wager that most of the narratives in the Old Testament are the “what NOT to do” stories and illustrations.  Bear this in mind when reading narratives.
2. Law.  Law (or statutes) are prescriptive – they do tell us what we should and should not to.  However, not all Old Testament laws apply to us today.  A prime example would be the dietary restrictions.  How do we know this?  Because in the New Testament, in the book of Acts, chapter 10, Peter has a vision in which God tells him that God has made all things clean and that it is okay for him to eat of the foods that were previously restricted.
3. Poetry.  This should be self explanatory, but poetry is descriptive and imaginary and should not be read literally.  Mountains do not skip like rams (Psalm 114:6) and God is not a physical rock (Psalm 18:23).  These psalms are figurative and poetic.  They are humanity’s attempt to pour out their feelings (the good, the bad and the ugly) to God.  Read them for the emotions that they evict and the images that come to mind.
4. Genealogy.  The Old Testament is notorious for this.  They are simply lists of people.  Why are they there? Partly to highlight the brevity of life and partly to provide physical evidence that people are who they are.  David was promised the monarchy forever.  Jesus is a descendant of David, therefore Jesus is heir to the monarchy.  This is why Matthew and Luke open with genealogies.
5. Parable.  Jesus conveyed tough biblical concepts with stories – stories that are masked in such a way that they have double meanings: there is the literal meaning of the story, which is what most people “got” and then there is the theological meaning which most people did not “get”.  Don’t take parables literally, but look for the deeper meaning that is being conveyed.  It is important.
6. Wisdom.  There are a few books in the Old Testament that are considered Wisdom books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs (Song of Solomon).  Wisdom is is a topic of discussion in and of itself, but our purposes here, wisdom is what leads us into a better understanding of God’s sovereignty, His truth and His justice.  We humans have our own sense of fairness and justice that don’t always accord with God’s, so the wisdom literature helps us understand this.
7. Prophetic and Apocalyptic. These are two types of literature that are constantly misunderstood.  First, prophetic literature is calling God’s people into a better (right) relationship with Him by proclaiming the ways in which they are disobeying Him.  There is always an immediacy to prophetic literature that has the application in the day/time in which it is being proclaimed.  Sometimes, though, prophetic literature has a double application in that it also predicts what will happen in the future, i.e. the predictions in Isaiah of a Messiah.  Apocalyptic literature, on the other hand, is always future in that it has not happened yet and it always deals with the end times.  Apocalyptic literature is also highly figurative and poetic and therefore cannot, and should not, be interpreted as being literal.

Keep in mind that these are very broad categories.  There are probably some that I’ve missed, so if you have a question about a particular passage and its genre, please leave a comment.  I would love to hear those.

Knowing how the bible is organized can lead to a more productive study session.  Here are a few basics.

There are two main divisions:  the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT). 

There are a total of 66 books in the bible:  39 in the OT and 27 in the NT.

The Old Testament is further divided into sections by groups of writings:

1. Pentateuch or Torah: These are the first 5 books of the bible (Genesis-Deuteronomy) and are also referred to as “The Books of the Law” or “The Books of Moses”.  Anytime you read a reference to “the Law” or ”the Law of Moses”, these 5 books (in their entirety) are what is being referred to, whether Old or New Testament.
2. Historical Books: Joshua – Esther.  These books detail the nation of Israel from the time they enter the Promised Land until after they come back from exile.  The rough dates for this are 1200 BC – 430 BC.  There is some repetition between some of the books and this is because they were written by different authors and for different purposes and focuses. 
3. Wisdom Literature: Job – Song of Solomon.  Wisdom literature is meant to highlight how we are to live in relation to a Holy God and provides insight on how to have real emotions (anger, hurt, jealously, hatred, fear…) and still live in a right relationship with God.
4. Major Prophets: Isaiah – Daniel (Lamentations is stuck in there because many people attribute its author to Jeremiah, but it can also be considered wisdom literature).  These prophets are called Major prophets because their body of work is greater than those of the Minor prophets, not necessarily because of the content of their prophesies.
5. Minor Prophets: Hosea – Malachi.  The last 12 books are the minor prophets.

The New Testament is divided into 4 main sections:

1. The Gospels: Matthew – John.  These books are the accounts of Jesus and his ministry on Earth.
2. Acts – This book is a continuation of sorts of Luke (and written by the same author) and gives us the history of the first few decades of the Church after Jesus died.
3. Epistles: Romans – Jude.  These books are letters written to specific people and/or churches.  They were written by Paul, Peter, James, Jude, John and an unknown author (Hebrews).  This is where church doctrine mostly comes from because it provides for us the basis for how we are to think theologically in light of Jesus.
4. Apocalyptic: Revelation.  Revelation is a book written by John (the Apostle) and is a book that provides a present, 1st century context to its readers and an End Times context for us today.

There you have it, the major divisions of the bible.  Next time I’ll cover the types of writings in the bible and how we are to read the text in light of the genre – a very important topic.

Until next time!

I have been entirely neglecting this blog for a while because I have felt that I don’t have a whole lot to contribute, at least in the way that I had originally thought about this blog.  Part of my struggle is that my interests and methodology for studying God’s Word is in all likelihood more academic than what an average person would want and/or need.  And I don’t want to be responsible for being overly academic and actually turning someone away from actively reading and participating in the wonders that is His Word.

So I have decided that I’m going to do a 90 degree turn and take a different approach.  What I would like to do, if possible, is to first get you ready for reading the bible and then to help you read by providing some tools that you may need – all of this on a book-by-book basis.  Some of the stuff in the beginning might be boring or too technical, but I will try my best to keep to an agenda that is not overly academic and yet interesting – interesting enough so that you will be as excited to be in the Word on a daily basis as I am.

The more I study and read about the construct of the Bible the more I am entirely amazed.  The Bible is a book that is a collection of 66 individual books, written over 1,500 years, by many different authors and in many different places –> all with one single purpose: to provide us (humans) with information about God, from God, so that we may know Him.  The 66 individual books that make up our scriptures are singular in intent and in message: the bible does NOT contradict itself.

The bible is also an authority.  It would be a mistake to hold any other writing on par or above the Bible.  Why?  Because the writings that are in the Book have gone through centuries of testing and analysis to ensure that we recognize the hand of God upon the inspiration that is our Bible.  What, exactly, does this mean?  Let me see if I can give you an example.

I am reading a fiction book right now that presents the idea that the books that were found in the Nag Hammadi find are books that were “hidden/destroyed” by the Catholic church in an attempt to alter our understanding of the Gospel.  Going further, I also think that the book is going to make the claim that books like the Gospel of Thomas are books that should be on par (or greater) than the New Testament writings that make up our Scriptures today.  There are several problems with this theory.

First, if you actually read the Gospel of Thomas, you’ll discover that it does not completely “accord”, or line up, with the other New Testament writings.  This should be a HUGE RED FLAG for us.  Like I said above, the Bible that we use today is one message, with no contradictions, so anything that does make a contradiction should raise a flag for us.

Second, one of the fundamental claims that the Gospel of Thomas, and other gnostic writings, make, is that there is a “hidden” knowledge out there (which is what gnosis means – knowledge) and that we should have to work to be let in.  God’s word is not secret and don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise.  Knowledge of God, from God and about God is free and plainly written in the Bible with no hidden message there at all.  There is no secret to being a Christian: the only “requirement” is that you believe in God and His Son, Jesus the Messiah (Christ) and are willing to surrender your will to His.  That’s it: belief.  Very straightforward and open.

Finally, these books were not “admitted” into the New Testament simply because they don’t accord with what the other 27 books of the New Testament say.  I would encourage you to read the gnostic gospels side-by-side with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  You’ll see a huge disconnect between them.

So going back up to my original thought, I would like to start laying out a foundation of ideas about what the bible is that will help us study why the bible is.  The why is the point.

Questions for Reflection:

1. Have you read any books lately (fiction or non-fiction) that have caused you to reflect on what you know about the bible?  Or have had an unsettling effect on you because it challenged what you know about the bible?
2. Are there news items or current discussions going on around you that give you pause with regard to what you know to be true about the Bible?
3. If someone were to challenge you by saying that the Bible has “loads” of contradictions in it, would you be able to counter their claims?

Hopefully, you have not had your fundamental beliefs challenged in such a way that it destroys your belief at any level.  If you have, then please hang tight – we’ll try to help you out.