September 13, 2009:

Ponderings of a Pilgrim PASTOR

“The Bible Says . . .”

            An updated version of the New International Version of the Bible is expected to be published in 2011.  The NIV, the most popular “evangelical” Bible, was originally published in 1978 as an alternative to the Revised Standard Version published by the National Council of Churches.  The original NIV was updated in 1984 as Today’s New International Version or TNIV which eliminated masculine or feminine usage the scholars and publishers said was unsupported by original manuscripts or unclear in modern language.  The TNIV’s “demasculinizing” of the Bible was greeted with horror by traditionalists and fundamentalists.  While they claimed they were simply trying to get back to what the Bible originally said, one might suspect that their true agenda was to use the Bible as a tool to keep women subordinate and subservient as they preach in their churches.  One doubts that the new revision of the NIV in 2011 will contain any inclusive language.

            Using translations of the Bible in order to prove theological or other points is an old story.  Let’s remember that the Bible is written (mostly) in Hebrew (in the Hebrew scriptures) and Greek (in the Christian scriptures) with a scattering of a few Aramaic words (the language Jesus and his contemporaries spoke).  Every first-year student in any language course knows that there is never a one-for-one translation of words from one language to another.  And it gets more complicated from there.  Biblical scholars do their best to convey what the original writers intended but they also attempt to use contemporary words in their translation that would mean something to people today.

            In Pilgrim Church we read from the New Revised Version of the Bible, the update of the original Revised Version.  The scholars who prepared it are of the highest rank and reputation in the scholarly world.  They have no ax to grind other than to offer a Bible to the church that will be clear to a modern audience and not pander to ancient misconceptions and prejudices.

            The New Revised Version is the Bible we are presenting to Corbin Sloan today.  We hope it will become a treasured companion for him.

Love,  Pastor Dave