Songs In The Night

A Need to Worship

In our last devotion, we looked at what is referred to as the transmission of the Bible, taking the spoken and inspired Word of God and preserving it in writing.  Our God is a God who wants to be known and worshiped by all people groups, hence it is important that His Word is translated into the language of the people.  All people.

A Need to Know

As noted prior, the Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek, the languages of those God chose to “pen” his Words.  But unfortunately, not everybody spoke and read these languages.  Hence, as the gospel traveled, it would become necessary for it to be translated into the language of the nations into which it was penetrating.  In the West, the Bible was translated into Latin in the early fifth century, but just as we saw with the Hebrew language, in time Latin would not be spoken among the “common” people.  Thankfully, some uncommon people, such as John Wycliffe would sacrifice their lives to make sure the Bible was translated into the language of the people.  God’s Word was never intended to be chained to any pulpit, it belongs in the hands of God’s children.

Which One?

We’ve come a long way since the days of Wycliffe.  With the invention of the printing press (around 1450 AD), the ability to produce various Bible translations was greatly expedited.  This has certainly been a great blessing, but it has lead to the question we are looking at today.  Which Bible translation should I read?

Henry Ford once said, “You can buy a Model T in any color you want, as long as that color is black.”  Roughly two decades before Mr. Ford made that comment the same was true if you were in the market for an English Bible.  You could have any translation you wanted as long as that translation was the King James Version (KJV).  I can’t count the number of different car colors I see on the road today, nor can I comment on every Bible translation available, but we can address some key points.

Formal and Functional

We often hear it said of someone, “he is so smart that he is stupid”.  What does that mean?  I believe it means there are a lot of people walking around who have a high formal intelligence and a low functional intelligence.  Not everybody can have both!!  Since most of us are not experts in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Koine Greek, we are faced with a dilemma.  When it comes to choosing a Bible translation, we have to ask ourselves, do we want a “formal equivalence” or “functional equivalence”?

A Bible that we term “formal equivalence” is more commonly known as a word for word translation.  The emphasis with these translations is grammatical form.  Nouns are translated into nouns, 10 words are translated into 10 words, etc.  Because precision is the key and word order is closely followed, these translations often sacrifice readability.  They can tend to come across as a little more “choppy.”  While great for study tools, they can become a little more difficult to follow if your objective is to read large sections of Scripture.  Included in this group of translations are, the KJV, ASV, NASB, and ESV.

By contrast, Bibles that we term “functional equivalence”, are more commonly referred to as phrase-for-phrase translations.  The emphasis of these interpretations is placed more heavily on readability than grammatical form.  Although they may “wander” from the grammatical form, they tend to stay true to the meaning (in theory).  Included in this group of translation are the NIV and NEB.

Difficulties and Drawbacks

Unfortunately, a literal word for word translation is next to impossible.  Words and expressions commonly used in one culture often make little to no sense in another.  Thankfully, when the original in Hebrew read, “God’s nostrils enlarged”, it was translated as, “God became angry.”  You get the point, since the Tower of Babel, people groups have spoken different languages with there own idioms (raining cats and dogs) and colloquialisms (I wasn’t born yesterday).  While they may add color to our speech, they would definitely be confusing to someone who didn’t understand the double meaning.  All this to say, when we speak of a Bible translation as being faithful to the original, we need to clarify between faithfulness to form and faithfulness to meaning.  In this regard, both the formal and functional equivalence have their strength and weaknesses.

Even though a formal equivalence translation may be true to the form, they don’t always make sense.  While these translations allow the reader to do their own interpretation of the text, the readers don’t always have the proper tools or background to interpret it accurately.  Hence because the translation was not clear enough, they misunderstood it.  And as just alluded to, formally correct translations can be misleading because of different word meanings.

While a functional equivalence translation is often more clear and understandable, the reader is at the “mercy” of the translators.  What if they missed the point of the original.  In order to make the text clear are they adding words that actually change the meaning of the original text?

Recommended Reading

My recommendation?  Own (at least) one of each.  I don’t want to be the guy that is, “so smart he is stupid”.  In our society we have a wealth of Bible translations.  We take for granted what Wycliffe and many others died for.  A Bible in our own language.  Take advantage of it.  Own a formal equivalence and a functional equivalence.  Before you buy however, make sure you choose a translation that is conservative in it’s translation.  It must be an interpretation, not a distortion.  Christ must be exalted and His deity cannot be denied.

Most importantly, make sure you read your Bible(s).  If you don’t like to read, listen to it on a phone app.  Between reading and listening you should be able to get through the Bible every year.  God not only wants his Word in your hand, He wants it in your heart.

God’s Word is the source of something more valuable than either formal or functional intelligence.  It is the only source of wisdom.  Saturate yourself with it.