The study of Bible translations is helpful mainly because it provides a good base for understanding why the Bible you use reads like it does. Through experience we know the New International Version (NIV) does not read like the English Standard Version (ESV) and the New American Standard Bible (NASB) does not read like the King James Version (KJV) and yet they are all the word of God.
Not only does an understanding of different Bible translations help with seeing the differences within translations, but it also begins to deepen one’s respect for those that have given their lives to the work of Bible translation.
With this short article I would like to highlight three factors of Bible translation I think go a long way towards helping one better grasp why their Bible is the way it is while giving a good foundation for understating why other Bibles are the way they are. To do this, a discussion of three translation factors will be presented: Translation Philosophy, Translation Accuracy, and Translation Readability.
Translation Philosophy
Translation philosophy is the term commonly used within the Bible translation world in order to differentiate the foundation and/or plan for a specific Bible translation. In studying translation philosophy one quickly discovers there exists a spectrum along which a particular Bible will find itself when the philosophy of a certain translation is discussed. Along this spectrum exists a large number of options for a Bible translation to be identified, which can quickly become overwhelming as one first begins to dip one’s toes in this area of study. Knowing that, it helps to first begin with a focus on the two ends of the Bible translation philosophy spectrum as Bibles are regularly identified based on their relative closeness to one of the two ends. Those two endpoints are Formal Equivalence (Word for Word) and Dynamic Equivalence (Thought for Thought).
The Formal Equivalence translation philosophy attempts to take each Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek word and find the equivalent word in the translation as they take into account the appropriate English grammar standards. The benefit of this sort of translation philosophy is that it presents a slightly more raw and un-interpreted (as much as possible) translation of the original, which allows the Bible reader and studier to work directly with the specific written words. This option affords the reader of the Bible with the chance to work at the interpretation at a more foundational level. The drawback of this sort of translation philosophy is that the adherence to the specific words used in the original languages sometimes brings to the translation awkward or difficult to understand passages.
The Dynamic Equivalence translation philosophy sees the Formal Equivalence philosophy as a step in the wrong direction and thus attempts to take each thought or meaning the original writer had in mind and translate that thought or meaning into the receptor language. The benefit of this sort of translation philosophy is that it presents a text that is often easy to read and understand because of the tremendous amount of work that has gone into the rendering of the translated text through a fair bit of helpful interpretation by the translators. The drawback of this sort of translation philosophy is that it makes interaction with the specific words used a difficult process because the meaning of the thought is being translated, not necessarily the individual words.
There also exists a midpoint in the translation philosophy spectrum that works to blend the two options as best as possible. This is sometimes referred to as a mediating or optimal translation philosophy.
A good example the two main philosophies can be seen in Romans 1:5 along with a mediating translation following.
ESV (Formal Equivalence) – “…through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations…”
NLT (Dynamic Equivalence) – “Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.”
NIV (Mediating) – “Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for name’s sake.”
As you can see, at the root, all three translations are saying the same thing. The ESV is saying it while sticking closer to the actual word usage in the Greek while the NLT is explaining what is meant by each of the words used in the Greek to hopefully make it more understandable in English. The NIV is also a wonderful translation that seeks to strike that right balance by interpreting slightly less than the NLT and helping with interpretation when necessary where the ESV does not.
Translation Accuracy
Translation accuracy is a major factor in evaluating a Bible translation. If the Bible we are reading is not accurate in what it is translating then we should not give any time to reading it. That being said, most of the Bible translations that are available in bookstores today are extremely accurate. This would include the NIV, ESV, NLT, NASB, Revised Standard Version (RSV), and the newly updated Christian Standard Bible (CSB). Interestingly, the KJV would be one of those Bible translations that, over time, has been realized to be deficient in its accuracy because of new scholarship based upon the discovery of older and more reliable biblical manuscripts. However, the KJV is still one of those historically trusted Bibles that the Lord has used to bring countless people to a saving faith in Jesus.
Translation accuracy can be and sometimes is directly affected by a Bible’s presuppositional theological stance. When a Bible translation is driven more by the theological stance of the specific people working on the translation rather than the actual work with the original text there with it comes a problem. The real benefit that most translation committees have going for them is in their use of multiple experts in the original languages from different Christian denominations and thus different theological presuppositions. The ESV, NIV, and NLT all use translators and experts from a range of denominations, which helps in keeping the translation more textually honest so it does not end up sounding like a Bible written by a Calvinist or an Arminian, or a Bible written by a Continuationist or a Cessationist, or a Bible written by an Egalitarian or a Complementarian.
It should be noted that an often assumed and accepted presupposition in translating a text has to do with whether or not the committee is theological conservative or liberal. Note the difference between the RSV and the NRSV.
Translation Readability
Lastly, translation readability is one of those factors of Bible translation that will usually seal the deal in selecting a Bible, or it will serve as the deal breaker. It also serves as a factor that everyone values and implements whether they are aware of it or not. To put it bluntly, if one is not able to read the Bible the have in their hands, they will choose another one.
We read what we’re able to read, whether it be magazines, novels, newspapers, comic books, or even the word of God. Therefore, translation readability is and will continue to be one of the most important factors in choosing a Bible.
Thankfully, God has given us the wonderful gift of a wide selection of different Bible translations that almost always allows us to choose a well-translated Bible, which also happens to be one that we can read relatively easily.