﻿From time to time, I get asked to recommend a Bible translation. Often, it’s ex-Jehovah’s
Witnesses who ask me because they have come to see how flawed the New World Translation is.
To be fair, while the Witness Bible has its flaws, it also has its virtues. For example,
it has restored the name of God in many places where most translations have removed it.
Mind you, it’s gone too far and inserted the name of God in places where it doesn’t belong and
therefore has obscured the true meaning behind some key verses in the Christian Scriptures.
So it has its good points and its bad points, but I can say that about every translation I’ve
investigated so far. Of course, we all have our favorite translations for one
reason or another. That’s fine, as long as we recognize that no translation is 100% accurate.
What matters to us is finding the truth. Jesus said, “I was born and came into the world to
testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.” (John 18:37)
There is one work in progress I recommend you check out. It’s found at 2001translation.org.
This work advertises itself as “a free Bible translation continually corrected and refined
by volunteers.” I personally know the editor and can say with confidence that the goal of these
translators is to provide an unbiased rendering of the original manuscripts using the best tools
available. Nevertheless, doing so is a challenge for anyone even with the very best of intentions.
I want to demonstrate why that is by using a couple of verses
that I came upon recently in the book of Romans.
The first verse is Romans 9:4. As we read it, please pay attention to the verb tense:
“They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants,
the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.” (Romans 9:4 English Standard Version)
The ESV is not unique in casting this in the present tense. A quick scan of
many translations available on BibleHub.com will show that the majority support a present
tense translation of this verse. Just to give you a quick sampling,
the new American Standard version says, “… Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as
sons…”. The NET Bible gives, “To them belong the adoption as sons…”. The Berean Literal
Bible renders it: “…who are Israelites, whose is the divine adoption as sons…” (Romans 9:4)
Reading this verse by itself would lead you to conclude that at the time the letter to
the Romans was written, the covenant God made with the Israelites for their adoption as his
children was still in place, still valid. Yet, when we read this verse in the Peshitta
Holy Bible Translated from Aramaic, we see that the past tense is used.
“Who are the children of Israel, whose was the adoption of children, the glory,
The Covenant, The Written Law, the ministry which is in it, The Promises…” (Romans 9:4)
Why the confusion? If we go to the Interlinear we see that there is no verb present in the
text. It is assumed. Most translators assume the verb should be in the present tense,
but not all. How does one decide? Since the writer is not present to answer that
question, the translator must use his understanding of the rest of the Bible.
What if the translator believes that the nation of Israel – not spiritual Israel, but the literal
nation of Israel as it exists today – will again return to a special status before God.
While Jesus made a new covenant which allowed Gentiles to become part of spiritual Israel,
there are a number of Christians today who believe that the literal nation of Israel will be restored
to its special pre-Christian status as God’s chosen people. I believe this doctrinal theology
is based on eisegetical interpretation and I don’t agree with it; but that’s a discussion
for another time. The point here is that the translator’s beliefs are bound to affect how
he or she renders any particular passage, and because of that inherent bias, it is impossible
to recommend any particular Bible to the exclusion of all others. There is no version that I can
guarantee is completely free of bias. This is not to impute bad motives to the translators.
Bias affecting the translation of meaning is just a natural consequence of our limited knowledge.
The 2001 Translation also renders this verse in the present tense:
“For they’re the ones the adoption as sons, the glory, the Sacred Agreement, the Law,
the worship, and the promises belong to.” Perhaps they’ll change that in the future,
perhaps they won’t. Maybe I’m missing something here. However, the virtue of the 2001 translation
is its flexibility and the willingness of its translators to alter any rendering in keeping
with the overall message of Scripture rather than any personal interpretation they may have.
But we can’t wait on translators to fix their translations. As serious Bible students,
it is up to us to seek out the truth. So, how do we protect ourselves against being
influenced by the bias of the translator? To answer that question, we’ll go to the
very next verse in Romans chapter 9. From the 2001 translation, verse five reads:
“They’re the ones [who descended] from the forefathers, and the ones the Anointed One
[came] through, in the flesh… Yes, praise God who’s over it all
throughout the ages! May it be so!”
The verse ends with a doxology. If you don’t know what a doxology is,
don’t worry, I had to look it up myself. It’s defined as “an expression of praise to God”.
For example, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem seated on a colt, the crowds cried:
“BLESSED IS the King, THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Peace in heaven and
glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:38) That’s an example of a doxology.
The New American Standard Version renders Romans 9:5,
“whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh,
who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” You will notice the judicious placement of the
comma. “…who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” It’s the doxology.
But in ancient Greek there were no commas, so it’s up to the translator to determine where a
comma should go. What if the translator is heavily into belief in the Trinity and is
desperately looking for a place in the Bible to support the doctrine that Jesus is God Almighty.
Take these three renderings as just one example of how most Bibles render verse five of Romans nine.
Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,
who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. (Romans 9:5 New International Version)
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as
his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything
and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. (Romans 9:5 New Living Translation)
To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ,
who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 9:5 English Standard Version)
That seems pretty clear, but when we look into the word-for-word rendering from the
interlinear that clarity goes away. “whose are the patriarchs and from whom
is Christ according to the flesh being over all God blessed to the ages amen”
You see? Where do you put the periods and where do you put the commas?
Let’s look at it exegetically, shall we? To whom was Paul writing?
The book of Romans is directed principally to the Jewish Christians in Rome, which is why it deals
so heavily with the Mosaic law, making comparisons between the old law code and that which replaces
it, the New Covenant, grace through Jesus Christ, and the outpouring of the holy spirit.
Now consider this: Jews were aggressively monotheistic,
so if Paul were suddenly introducing a new teaching that Jesus Christ is God Almighty,
he would have had to explain it thoroughly and support it completely from Scripture.
It wouldn’t be part of a throwaway phrase at the end of a sentence. The immediate context speaks of
the wonderful provisions God made for the Jewish nation, so ending it with a doxology would be
fitting and readily understood by his Jewish readers. Another way we can determine whether
or not this is a doxology is to examine the rest of Paul’s writings for a similar pattern.
How often does Paul use a doxology in his writings?
We don’t even need to leave the book of Romans to answer that question.
“For they exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and worshiped and served the
creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 1:25 NASB)
Then there’s Paul’s letter to the Corinthians where he is clearly referring
to the Father as the God of Jesus Christ: “The God and Father of the Lord Jesus,
He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.” (2 Corinthians 11:31 NASB)
And to the Ephesians, he wrote: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”
“…one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”
(Ephesians 1:3; 4:6 NASB) So here we have examined two verses only,
Romans 9:4, 5. And we have seen in those two verses the challenge that any translator faces
in properly rendering the original meaning of a verse into whatever language he’s working with.
It’s a huge task. Therefore, whenever I’m asked to recommend a Bible translation, I recommend
instead a site like Biblehub.com which provides a wide range of translations to choose from.
Sorry, but there is no easy path to truth. That’s why Jesus uses the illustrations
like a man searching for treasure or seeking for that one precious pearl.
You will get truth if you seek it, but you have to really want it. If you’re looking
for someone to just hand it to you on a platter, you are going to get handed a lot of junk food.
Every so often someone will speak with the right spirit, but the majority in my experience are
not guided by the spirit of Christ, but the spirit of man. That is why we are told to:
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God,
because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (John 4:1 NASB)
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