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11.2 Objectives.

1. We will learn about the debate among translators about the best approach to create a
translation of the Bible from one language to another.

2. We will look back historically to how translators used various materials to write on and how
they translated.

3. We will look at some of the ancient manuscripts to see how they differ from what our Bible looks like
today.

11.3 Methods of Translating the Bible

There are many versions or translations of the Bible today. Why so many? Is one better
than the other? Is there only one true and faithful translation? Let’s look into the difficulties
that translators encounter.

Translating from one language to another is not as simple as it may sound. You don’t just
look at the word in one language, and match it up with the other language. Why?

1. There are great challenges to face when translating from one language to another. Sometimes
there is no matching words between languages.

There is no unambiguous one-to-one correspondence between two languages, especially in the
idiomatic sense (real meaning). Vocabulary can also be difficult if not, at times, impossible to yield
appropriate receptor words.

For example, there are four different words for love in Greek while the English language offers only one,
the word, love. Here are the four Greek words for love:

Stergein is rooted in obligatory affection for objects of similar nature. It is the natural affection that
human parents have for their children and similarly, the protective devotion of animals for their
offspring. This word is not found in its root form in the Greek New Testament but does appear twice
with an “alpha” prefix which negates the original meaning. Thus, “unnatural affection” is the usual
translation of Romans 1:31 and 2 Timothy 3:3. It is also found with PHILEIN in Romans 12:10 to
produce a compound meaning “kindly affection.” Stergein is obligatory love.

Eran is not found in the Greek New Testament in any word variant. It was used by pagan writers to
describe sexual passion, the dynamic enveloping of the conscious mind, to the near disregard of
surroundings. Eran is passionate love.

Philein is used about forty times and is the pleasure love that returns from a person or object. It is
often a very normal, “unimpassioned” friendship of one person for another. For example, put two
motorcycle riders in the same room at some event and when they discover their mutual interest,
they will most likely be lost in their own private world of conversation about chrome and rubber.
Put two graduates of the same college in the same work place and they will develop a unique
friendship because of the pleasurable memories of life at that college. In each situation, the
affection developed because of pleasure, in spite of no other commonality. In the first case, it was

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