Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, though I write to you today with a heavy heart, constrained by love for the truth and a duty to the flock of God.
It has come to my attention that you have devoted much of your platform to launching public attacks against modern, faithful translations of the Word of God—specifically the New International Version (NIV) and the English Standard Version (ESV). In doing so, you have sown seeds of suspicion, division, and unnecessary doubt among the faithful, declaring that these translations somehow compromise or corrupt the divine witness. I must write to urge you to consider the grave theological and historical weight of your position, and to call you to a quiet, humble cessation of these divisive accusations.
As one who labors in the study of Sacred Scripture, I ask you to reflect upon the historical context of the divine revelation itself—specifically the period of the New Testament.
During the first century, the primary Scripture utilized by the Apostles and the early Church was the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. As any serious student of the text knows, the Septuagint is not a word-for-word, literal transliteration of the Hebrew Masoretic traditions that developed later. It contains significant textual variants, dynamic translations, interpretive paraphrases, and expansions.
Yet, look closely at the testimony of the Gospels.
When our Lord Jesus Christ stood in the synagogues, when He debated the Pharisees, and when He quoted the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Not once did our Lord issue a condemnation of the Septuagint. He did not launch a polemic against the Alexandrian translators for their stylistic choices or dynamic renderings. He did not accuse those who read the LXX of using a "corrupted text." On the contrary, He affirmed that the Scriptures—even in their translated, Greek form—bore authoritative witness to Him (John 5:39).
If the Incarnate Word of God displayed dynamic silence regarding the textual variations of the Septuagint—choosing instead to honor the translation insofar as it delivered the true message of God’s redemptive covenant—by what authority do you sit in judgment over modern translations?
The NIV and the ESV, while reflecting different translation philosophies (formal versus dynamic equivalence), are the product of centuries of rigorous, godly, evangelical scholarship. Both committees sought to render the ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts into the vernacular with fidelity, accuracy, and reverence. To claim that minor textual decisions or translational variations constitute a betrayal of the faith is not orthodoxy; it is a peddling of fundamentalist legalism that elevates a specific human translation or tradition above the living Word.
By making an absolute warfare out of translational nuances, you pull the eyes of believers away from the Gospel of grace and fix them upon foolish controversies (Titus 3:9). You act as a stumbling block to seekers and cause young believers to question whether they truly possess the Word of Life.
I urge you, in the strongest terms, to learn the wisdom of our Lord’s silence. If Christ Himself did not spend His ministry attacking the prevalent Greek translation of His day, it is far better that you close your mouth and cease your crusade against the NIV and the ESV. Bridle your tongue before you cause further harm to the Body of Christ (James 1:26).
Subdue your zeal for controversy, turn your labor toward preaching Christ and Him crucified, and let the Word of God—which endures forever—do its work in the hearts of His people, regardless of the faithful translation through which it is read.
In the hope of your repentance and restraint,
A Servant of the Gospel
Reverend So and So
Singapore
No comments:
Post a Comment