Page 116 - Doctrine and History of the Preservation of the Bible revised

might prefer a translation different from what a college student is reading.

Translation is not an exact science. There is often no perfect one-to-one correspondence between
words in different languages. Additionally, every language has idioms and figures of speech—notoriously
hard to translate—as well as historical and cultural factors that may affect the connotation of words in
ways that cannot be translated.

An example in English will help illustrate. If you have a friend who is involved in a live theatre
production, and you want to wish her well, you might say, “Break a leg,” an idiom that, in the theater
world, replaces saying, “Good luck” (which is considered bad luck to say). If you translate the idiom
literally, the readers may get the wrong impression if they do not understand the cultural hijinks behind
the phrase. In this case, translating break a leg as “good luck” might be better. A third option might be
to leave the expression intact but include an explanatory footnote about what is actually meant.

As our example shows, the most literal translation may not be the most accurate. The more a translation
tries to express the original meaning in contemporary language, the more subjective interpretation is
introduced. Further, readability can become an issue. A very accurate “literal” translation would be very
unreadable. An Interlinear New Testament gives the Greek text on one line and, under it, the
approximate English word for each Greek word. If you simply read the English words, you are left, in
most cases, with a confusing jumble of words. It is very literal but practically meaningless. As the
translation becomes more readable in English, it will become less literal.

Most translations are on a continuum between being “literal” (staying as close to the original words and
literary structure as possible) and “dynamic” (communicating the meaning of the passage in a way that
the modern reader will understand, even if extra words are introduced that are not in the original text).
There are dozens of English translations to choose from. The best ones are done by teams of competent
evangelical scholars and reviewed by others. No single individual has all the skills necessary today to
produce a good translation. Below are some of the most prominent and best translations:

The King James Version is the most important book in the English language, having shaped the way
English was spoken for hundreds of years. Many people grew up with the King James Version and still
love the style and beauty of the translation. Someone once quipped, “The King James Version is as
beautiful as Shakespeare and just as simple.” For some people, the Elizabethan English might be a
challenge, but there is nothing wrong with accepting a challenge. The New King James Version is a
more readable version of the King James, removing many of the archaic terms and modernizing the
syntax. Both the KJV and the NKJV are “literal” translations.

The problem comes, however, when a believer says that the KJV is the ONLY Bible that is God’s Word,
and all other translations are of Satan. To make such a statement shows a gross ignorance of how God’s
Word is translated, of the family of autographs that exist, which are the more reliable, and a lack of
understanding about the process of translating original languages into English. And then, what about
the thousands of Bibles that have been translated into other languages besides Elizabethan English. Do
they claim they are Satanic in origin also? Such a view not only causes dissention in the body of Christ
but shows a caustic and ignorant attitude on the part of the one making such a statement. Our next
section deals with the King James Controversy in much more detail.

114